This year was filled with celebrations and challenges for area schools, from the opening of a newly renovated building to a failed attempt to secure more funding.

One of the celebrations this year was Northeastern Junior College opening its newly renovated E.S. French Hall. Construction on the building started in 2014 and was completed at the end of 2015, students and staff started using the building in January 2016 and a grand reopening celebration was held April 2. The celebration included performances by the NJC Contemporary Choir, international piano star Richard Steinbach, NJC theatre students, the NJC Community Jazz Band, Eagles tribute band The Long Run, Braydon Zink and the Juke Joint Cruisers.

FFA members packed the Bank of Colorado Event Center during the opening session of the 88th Annual Colorado FFA State Convention, held at NJC in June. Approximately 1,687 FFA members and guests from around the state attended the three-day convention. (Callie Jones / Journal-Advocate file photo)

NJC received $13.5 million in capital construction money from the state to fund the renovation. Total cost of the project was approximately $14 million.

The renovation project included enclosing the atrium and adding student and faculty work spaces to it and other parts of the building, updating classrooms with technology to go along with the college's iPad initiative, adding a black box theatre and putting new seating, lights and sound in the Dorothy Corsberg Theatre.

Since its reopening the building has seen much use, including being used as the site for an active shooter drill the college conducted with local law enforcement and first responders in late April.

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NJC also saw the addition of two new varsity sports in 2016 — wrestling and women's soccer — to attract around 50 additional students. While it was the college's first time to ever have a women's soccer team, NJC did have a thriving wrestling program in the 1960s and when the program ended in the late 1970s, it was the only sport at NJC to win National Junior College Athletic Association national titles.

This year's women's soccer team had a roster of 23 students and under the leadership of coach David Groves finished the season 3-12.

The wrestling team is off to a good start in their season. Coached by Greg Barner and Derrick Nelson, the team has a roster of 26 students. You can catch the team in action on Saturday, Jan. 21, when NJC hosts the Plainsmen Dual.

The college is also marking its 75th anniversary this year, with a celebration planned in the spring of 2017.

In other top education news in 2016, NJC served as the site of the 88th Annual Colorado FFA State Convention, June 7-9, which drew approximately 1,687 members and guests. During the conference students from heard from various speakers, including Colorado Lt. Governor Donna Lynne and Colorado Commissioner of Agriculture Don Brown, as well as FFA state officers Nick Vollmer of Merino, and Bryce Funk, of New Raymer. At the conclusion of the conference, Gus Gill, of Merino, was elected as the FFA state president for 2016-17.

While NJC had several reasons to celebrate this year, RE-1 Valley School District faced some challenges in 2016.

Finances continued to be a concern for the district and in May, due to expenditures exceeding anticipated revenues, the school board finalized a reduction in force, canceling contracts for Sterling High School credit recovery and foreign language teachers and the Sterling Middle School counselor. To ensure that students' mental health needs continue to be met, this school year RE-1 has partnered with Centennial Mental Health Center.

In an attempt to generate more funds for the district, which has seen a shrinking of revenue thanks to the state funding manipulation known as the negative factor, RE-1 sought to get voters approval for a $2 million mill levy override in the November election. However, Ballot Issue 3L was about 860 votes short of passing. Now, the district must look at making hard decisions as they develop the 2017-18 budget, and the school board is already talking about trying again to pursue an override in the 2017 election.

Shortly after the bid for additional funding failed, the district announced it would have to eliminate in town bus routes starting in January, due to a continued driver shortage, which has plagued the district for several years, and overcrowding of buses. Several Sterling Middle and High School routes were already eliminated at the beginning of the school year, for the same reasons.

It wasn't all bad news for RE-1 students though. In June it was announced Great Outdoors Colorado awarded a $100,000 School Yard Initiative grant to Logan County in partnership with Caliche Elementary for a new playground at the school. The school has also received a $20,000 grant from Temple Buell Foundation to help support construction of the preschool area of the playground.

Construction on the playground will start in May.

In other top education news, in July the Fleming School Board decided to allow one or more employees to be designated as security officers and authorized to carry firearms on school property.

The decision, which came after much discussion, was the result of the district wanting to improve security for staff and students. At a community meeting before the board voted to allow staff to carry firearms, Superintendent Steve McCracken noted it could take law enforcement as long as 15-20 minutes to respond if there was an incident. The board agreed that having someone armed already on campus could help eliminate or reduce possible threats that may arise.

"I can't imagine being in place where you can hear guns firing or people whatever and there's nothing you could do," board member Dave Etl said.

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